Allen Kupeta and Helen Lieros- 'When two colours meet, they form a line'. A tribute to great mentors: (Memoirs Part I)
Fourteen years ago on an afternoon in 1999, a 14 years old boy stands at the entrance of a gallery in Livingstone Street, Harare, Zimbabwe. Next to him was his sister, Linda, who had accompanied him as she felt the city was to big for him to navigate alone. On the veranda of the white paint walled gallery, stood this an old woman with long grey hair. And sitting down on the chair next to him was a old man with white hair and a huge beard. That boy was me. The old woman was artist and mentor Helen Lieros. The old man was Dereck Huggins. The gallery was Gallery Delta. This was the beginning of what l would call my apprenticeship. Looking at the little drawings of rural Zimbabwean scenes (huts and animals) and cartoon characters I had bought to show them, after Derek had invited me to the gallery after corresponding through letters, I was advised to focus more on drawing, and to draw objects in real life as opposed to copying from a photograph. Helen Leiros. Artist and mentor. ...